Pairs Long Program

[bekalc]

Top Ten Pairs in TES :

1 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 66.82
2 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER 65.86
3 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 65.55
4 Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS 65.39
5 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV RUS 62.75
6 Caydee DENNEY / Jeremy BARRETT USA 59.19
7 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV RUS 59.18
8 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA 58.5
9 Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON CAN 57.63
10 Maylin HAUSCH / Daniel WENDE GER 51.28

I agree with the Zhangs being first here. Technically when they're on they are really ON.

Top Ten Pairs in PCS :

1 Qing PANG / Jian TONG CHN 70.56
2 Aliona SAVCHENKO / Robin SZOLKOWY GER 69.36
3 Yuko KAVAGUTI / Alexander SMIRNOV RUS 67.28
4 Maria MUKHORTOVA / Maxim TRANKOV RUS 66.16
5 Jessica DUBE / Bryce DAVISON CAN 60.08
6 Dan ZHANG / Hao ZHANG CHN 59.76
7 Vera BAZAROVA / Yuri LARIONOV RUS 54.08
8 Caydee DENNEY / Jeremy BARRETT USA 53.76
9 Anabelle LANGLOIS / Cody HAY CAN 50.88
10 Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG USA 50.72

I'm Ok with PangTong being first too. CH, PF and IN are better IMO. The Germans have better skills and transitiosn but I guess I'm in the minority who believes transitions are not the new quads and definetly not most important thing in skating like they are being held recently lol

When the teams do similar technical elements than things like transitions should matter. Its not like Pang and Tong were doing throw quad sals are anything like that. Of the top four, P/T actually have the weakest skating skills, and so for them to get 9.00s especially over the German team is ridiculous.

And I don't even want to get into the ridiculous of K/S getting a score of 130 when they skate like they did. That was just majorily ridiculous. I love Russian pairs in general-but I don't love K/S. All of the things that made Russian teams so great-are missing with this team. IMO.

[jennylovskt]

Congratulations to Pan/Tang!

[Chemistry66]

Congratulations to the medalists! Didn't get to watch the final group cause I had class, but those I did see were great for the most part.

Congrats especially to:
Denney/Barrett for improving 2 places from last year and getting 7th in their second Worlds and second season together
Bazarova/Larionov for getting right back to skating and getting 8th in their first senior Worlds, especially after not having had a full competition season for a few years
Evora/Ladwig for placing in the top 10!
The Zhangs for a pretty awesome free skate
Dube/Davison for going mostly clean in the free after the suprisingly meltdown-ish short

[blue_idealist]

Btw, what is this 'suspension' people speak of re: Bazarova and Larionov?

[ImaginaryPogue]

He took a banned substance years ago and was suspended for two years.

[Chemistry66]

He took a banned substance years ago and was suspended for two years.

If I remember correctly, Larionov said that he took a cold pill or something like that without talking to his coach/doctor/whoever, and it had some chemical in it that was on the banned list. Must feel horrible to get suspended for something like that if it's the truth.

Bazarova herself must have had pretty good faith in him and his skills not lessening, since she could have chosen to break the partnership during the suspension in order to partner with someone else and gain more competition experience. Which makes me appreciate their placement here at these Worlds more, that they did so well not only not having competed in a long time, but alsonever having anything close to a full senior season before the suspension.

[ImaginaryPogue]

Yeah, I should have explained further, but forgot the details.

[piano18]

Kavaguti and Smirnov were sooo overscored, it's not even funny. Ok, they do have nice lifts, better than some of the other top teams, but come on, there were TWO FALLS. M&T and Z&Z were robbed. You could even make a case for placing D&D ahead of K&S in the free skate!!

Disappointed for L&H, and that Canada doesn't get three spots next year.

Btw, I wonder if S&S will retire. I heard the Zhangs aren't.

S&S goal is to skate til 2014 they say. where'd u hear the Zhangs aren't staying?

[Mrs. P]

S&S goal is to skate til 2014 they say. where'd u hear the Zhangs aren't staying?

I think the poster mean that she/he heard they aren't retiring.

[Ryan O]

Langlois having a bit of a meltdown

I have rarely ever seen Anabelle Langlois skate a clean long program. She almost always has a meltdown in the long. It happened every year at Nationals with her former partner Patrice Archetto, and it has happened several times now with Cody Hay. In fact, this is the 3rd time this season she has had major problems in the long (Nationals, Olympics & Worlds).

What's interesting is that although Cody Hay is younger and has less experience, he has already surpassed Anabelle in consistency.

[FlattFan]

I'm slightly horrified that S/S only beat K/S overall by less than a point!


P/T did very well besides her doubled 3T. Congrats to them on winning another World title!

Horrified?
S/S had 3 major mistakes (1 double SBS jump in the SP, no unison in their spins in the SP, double SBS in the LP)
K/S had 2 major mistakes (fall on a QUAD throw, fall on a 3R throw)
I'm horrified S/S got silver. They should get a bronze base on their terrible SP.

[Kinga]

well, their quad throw actually ended up scoring as much as a clean triple throw.. so that explains it a little bit at least..

This is truly insane that the 4S with a fall earns you 5 points... I hate that!

And I don't even want to get into the ridiculous of K/S getting a score of 130 when they skate like they did. That was just majorily ridiculous. I love Russian pairs in general-but I don't love K/S. All of the things that made Russian teams so great-are missing with this team. IMO.

ITA

Few random comments - I think Robin became a very strong partner. She used to be much better than him, but now the difference is gone, IMO.
And I liked E/L much more than the other American pair. I dont get the hype around them...

[iluvtodd]

Congrats to all the medalists! Very happy in particular for Pang & Tong & Aliona & Robin. Glad that things went better this time for Kavaguti & Smirnov, Jessica & Bryce. Nice performances overall from the other two Russian teams, The Zhangs did pretty well too.

So proud of Caydee & Jeremy and Amanda & Mark!

[bekalc]

Horrified?
S/S had 3 major mistakes (1 double SBS jump in the SP, no unison in their spins in the SP, double SBS in the LP)
K/S had 2 major mistakes (fall on a QUAD throw, fall on a 3R throw)
I'm horrified S/S got silver. They should get a bronze base on their terrible SP.

Two falls are worse than doubling jumps and the unison problem. And K/S long program is awful. Skaters shouldn't get 130 with the kind of errors K/S had in the long.

[herios]

Two falls are worse than doubling jumps and the unison problem. And K/S long program is awful. Skaters shouldn't get 130 with the kind of errors K/S had in the long.

Kaw / Smi getting the bronze over Muk / Tra was a joke. Why they have to keep bumping them up, just because Moskvine has more "love" from the russian federation than Vasiliev ? Because I cannot find any other rational reason. I was simply disgusted.